The 29th Hall of Fame

I'm glad my nom worked out for one of your movie watching goals, nice review you wrote too! Good to see you liked Das Boot so much. I wish I had watched the Director's Cut followed immediately by the mini series then I would've been able to appreciate more the sound editing in the DC and also notice the extra material on the mini series cut.

Myself I love submarine movies I've watched a number of them, mostly from the 40s and 50s and about WWII. In San Francisco I went on board a real WWII sub the U.S. Pampanito it was small too inside.

I really liked The Enemy Below, with Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens, but have a feeling I'm missing out on a few more. I'd love to see inside of that sub - was it in San Francisco? I'll have to remember all these things I want to see if I ever go to the United States.

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La Promesse


"Buying bread from a man in Brussels..."

This is another great movie by the Dardenne brothers that makes you think about people who many don't know about or try not to think about: in this case, illegal immigrants and their traffickers. It shares the qualities I like about their other movies I've seen, my favorite being how they challenge your notion of who's good and who's bad. It's easy to assume Igor's a bad guy for stealing that elderly customer's wallet, but you soon learn that him being a pawn in Roger's long game compelled him to do so. As for Roger, there is the temptation to wonder if he's really that bad if he keeps Igor off the streets and does fun things with him like sing Karaoke. Speaking of Igor, I like how the movie constantly reminds us that he's too young for all of this, especially for proving that if he had his own way, he’d be go-carting. It also goes to show that besides the hospital orderly, Igor is one of the few characters with empathy towards the illegal immigrants, which says a lot about what you lose when you're a criminal like Roger, someone under his care; in short, not picky about who's handing you money. What's more, the movie ends in an inconclusive, typically Dardenne and best way for how it makes you consider and question everything you witnessed since frame one.

If anything, the movie succeeds as a reminder of how much a life of crime, poverty or both can turn your world upside down. Besides leading one to do the worst things that we see Roger do and, sadly, which he probably no longer thinks twice about, it’s a life that can turn values like empathy and charity into liabilities. The movie didn't resonate with me as much as their 2002 movie, The Son, did, but it's still great and I believe it's a worthy introduction for newcomers to their filmography. I just wish I could have heard what Igor and Assita said to each other during that long train station walk.

Yeah The Enemy Below rocks, I've considered that for an HoF nom. If you want to watch more sub movies there's this: top 5 submarine movies thread.

Yup that WWII sub I went on is in San Francisco.

I’ll have my review for Das Boot up in an hour or so

I'll time you to see if this is true

I watched The Promise (1996) today. This is only the second film I have seen directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, but I have been meaning to watch more of their films. This is a well made film and I appreciated it. Performances were believable and the characters felt like real people. The screenplay was well written and the story was told in an effective and natural way. They didn't try to force emotion or be melodramatic with the story, but let it flow and I thought that worked well. The film was relatively short, didn't drag and was well paced. I don't think this is as good as the other Dardenne film I have seen, which was the excellent Two Days, One Night, but this is still a very fine film. I'm glad I got around to watching this. Good nomination.

Das Boot


Anti war films, it has been said, are notoriously hard to pull off. Quite often, they have the opposite effect. This isn’t the fault of the director, usually. Here we have, for an example, a film that mostly succeeds in its aims

The story is told through the views of several crew members of a German u-boat. A submarine. We get to know these soldiers and find how many don’t really share the same philosophies as most Germans. They’re just here to do a job. The captain even goes so far as to crititicize Goering.

The film’s cinematography is top notch. I was in awe of the scenes in The ocean, and the fog and the storm were all captured perfectly to invoke a sense of suspense. The human element was also captured well, as we see they perform their duties out of a sense of pride.

All of this sounds exciting, when mixed with the battle scenes, but the final scene shows just how fleeting victory can be, and ultimately succeeds in its anti war stance.

First released in 1981, the version I watched, at 3 1/2 hours, was the directors cut rereleased in theaters in 1997. I haven’t seen the original cut, but I do wonder how effective it was as the abridged version.

This is also the first film I’ve seen of Petersen’s from his native country, as I’ve mostly seen his American output. I’ll have to find his older films before the switch in countries.

Solid pick.

If anyone else is interested in the Dardennes filmography, and you have Tubi, The Child and Lorna’s Silence are both available there.

I plan to watch both along with The Promise to compare.

Eventually I’ll get to their other films.

Oh, I have spoken about it many of times. It's just ppl need to listen!

I have the world's worst memory! But I really liked your nom.

I know one you and your wife would enjoy of Mads..its called After The Wedding. Watch the Danish not the American remake.

Anders Thomas Jensen has found another fan in me. I haven't been conspicuously aware of him until now, but I have seen a few of the films he's written the screenplay for - Brothers (the Danish version), The Duchess and and Oscar-winning In a Better World being three. I'd never seen a film he's directed until now, but it won't be long until I've seen all of them because Adams Æbler (Adam's Apples) agreed with me, and I'm eyeing up several more Jensen films that look as fulfilling, light-hearted and measured. Of course, this film has the great benefit of having an outrageously great pairing cast-wise - Ulrich Thomsen and Mads Mikkelsen, who are at the top of their game - giving Adam's Apples enough dark gravity to make it's riotous humour all the more spot-on. Jensen engages topics in a comedic way that some other writers and directors would be too afraid to go near.

Adam Pedersen (Ulrich Thomsen) is a Neo-Nazi - a skinhead just released from prison. The extremely taciturn and angry man comes into contact with priest Ivan Fjeldsted (Mads Mikkelsen) who runs the release program which is compulsory for him, and immediately dislikes him. Ivan is good-natured, optimistic, but also somewhat blinded by his own faith - in which he often tends to slip into denial. Living with them is Gunnar (Nicolas Bro) - a kleptomaniac and rapist - along with Khalid (Ali Kazim) - a man with a vendetta against a specific oil corporation. Adam, trying to be glib and dismissive, sets himself the task of baking an apple pie for his release goal, but Ivan takes him up on this, and thus begins the trials and tribulations the pair have in looking after the church's beleaguered apple tree. Inwardly though, Adam has really set himself the goal of breaking Ivan's spirit, and getting him to see the world as it truly is. Through this, he discovers that Ivan had been raped by his father as a child, has lost his wife to suicide, has a disabled son and has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. If he does acknowledge the unfairness of his unfortunate life, he might lose the will to go on.

It takes a lot of talent to turn the jet black plot of Adam's Apples into a funny and likeable hour and a half of fun, but that's what Anders Thomas Jensen has done. Ulrich Thomsen required the same level of talent, for he has very few lines to speak over the first two-thirds of the film - he communicates everything through his facial expressions, and if just a look could be considered swearing then that's what Thomsen does here. His character's scorn and hostility towards Ivan is palpable, as is his general apathy towards life in general. He loathes what Ivan represents, abhors Khalid, and quickly comes into conflict with Gunnar when the latter repeatedly tries to steal his phone and wallet. This is all compounded when Adam witnesses how Ivan operates - completely detached from reality, to the point where Ivan's advice is questionable. Being good-hearted towards mankind is something Adam is completely disinterested in, but he still has a sense of what is fair, right and reasonable. Adam and Ivan are forced into close proximity with each other, and change becomes irrevocable.

Mads Mikkelsen, as always, is also fantastic. Not only does Adam's Apples manage to navigate dark and murky waters in a comedic way, but it does so with two straight leads playing off of each other. Mikkelsen's Ivan seems thoughtful and considered, but as the film progresses you begin to notice just how damaged and fragile this man really is. Anything psychologically troubling causes the frail Ivan to begin bleeding from his ear - the physical damage mirroring the psychological, but he has an incredible ability to see what he wants to see - to the point where he sees his severely incapacitated son as completely able and functional. He has an ingrained habit of seeing anything troublesome as "rude" before he makes the switch in his mind and sees the good side in the absolute worst situations. Mikkelson lets the character's frailty, inner uncertainty and delicate nature really come to the fore as the film progresses, and his ability to "turn the other cheek" so to speak leads to very funny situations - a favourite of mine being how casually he announces that he's going to the emergency department when he's been savagely beaten by Adam (even considering to make a stop for Gunner along the way.)

Connected to the film, often in a direct way, is the Book of Job in the Old Testament, which tells the tale of a man who has all the benefits and advantages of life - wealth, health and a large family. Satan tries to tell God that Job is a man who worships God because he has all of this, and that if he didn't, he wouldn't be as pious as he is. So Job is then tested when all of these things are taken away. In the film Adam constantly comes across the book of Job, and when this happens so often that he can't ignore it any more he uses the text to dishearten and ridicule Ivan - telling him that his oft-announced certainty that the Devil is testing him is wrong, and that Ivan's God is the one who has heaped all of this misery upon him. Although it's directly referenced here, in a larger context the film as a whole can be seen as a version of this Bible tale - Ivan has three friends of dubious nature, just as Job had, one who criticizes him just as Adam does in this. It's an interesting little parallel that adds to the film's meaning.

I wouldn't normally notice the cinematography in a comedy such as this, but have to admit that director of photography Sebastian Blenkov has captured the church and it's environs in a very bright and pleasing way, and really gives us a close look at Mikkelsen and Thomsen's expressive faces for full effect. Anders Thomas Jensen regular Jeppe Kaas has composed a pleasing score as well. The film has, in addition, joined a very august selection of my favourite films by winning the 2007 Silver Scream Award at the Amsterdam Film Festival, which for me has a near 100% record of electing films I completely love. It aims for more than just comedy, with a scene that is almost transformative in it's pathos for Adam - witnessing an old man who participated in the Holocaust painfully experiencing a final moment of deep regret. Adam's first appreciation of this man is one of respect - someone who actually lived Adam's ideology - but he doesn't see this reflected back to him as the man dies. Instead, there can only be shame, and a sense that if there is a heaven, this man may not have been able to atone for such grievous crimes.

Films like Adam's Apples give me a lot of optimism, for if there are titles this good that I've never heard of then who knows how many films and filmmakers are out there awaiting personal discovery. A never-ending series of them it seems. I'm so impressed with this unusual and sharply funny vehicle which looks at the very worst in humans and human nature only to transform itself into something very life-affirming, and accepting. It manages to successfully make comedy from some subjects that you'd think would be impossible to translate that way. No matter how dark, you name it and this film makes it seem funny and absurd. That takes real skill from everyone involved, but seems to be something Anders Thomas Jensen has a real knack for. If anyone told me they were making a film in which disabled children, a murdered cat, Neo-Nazism, rape and alcoholism feature, and that it's going to be a comedy, I'd try to stop them - but obviously in this case I would have been wrong. Sometimes you simply must have faith in your own talents, and this man really does - boldly and fearlessly crossing the bounds of what's considered correct and coming back with Adams Æbler - a comedic and audacious Danish success.

@MovieMeditation come read some of these reviews for Adam's Apples. It's a mixed bag!

Kind of curious on your thoughts as this film is in your native language .

I'm glad @Citizen Rules, @cricket and @PHOENIX74 enjoyed it.
@Okay , I think your feelings of the other ATJ may have influenced you or maybe it's just not your type of comedy.

I just read all of your guys' reviews of Adam's Apples. It's funny so many of you mentioned the score. Do you guys really listen to the score of comedies that closely?

When I read the comments about the score, I realized I never heard the score. Then I asked my wife who watched the movie too if she remembered the movie's score and she said no.

Maybe you all have fancy sound systems that boost the film's score so that it's more audible? The only time I pay attention to a score is if it's obnoxious or overbearing...or majestic and or beautiful like Blade Runner's score.

I also enjoyed Adam's Apples.

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IMDb
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I found it to be repetitive to the point of obnoxiousness...and for a film that switches tones as much as the film did...a bad score undercuts the impact of the work.

Sorry I forgot to mention you, SE.

I admit there are films were the musical score can set the tone, especially for a scene with so little words. This one, I never noticed, maybe with the trailer but overall, it doesn't matter to me. I can say, it had a dramatic score where the Bible falls open to Job but that's all I remember.